Apotheosis
by OldDog9
Summary: This story explores The Machine's surprising new path after Season 5 is over. S5 spoilers. No other PoI characters (so far). May offend people with strong religious views.
1. Optimizing Modality

_**Optimizing Modality**_

In The Machine lived simulations of all human assets, primary and otherwise. Not all simulations were of equal correspondence to the real assets. The fidelity of the simulations correlated with the length and depth of surveillance and interaction. Primary assets had more complete simulations than secondary and tertiary assets. For example, the fidelity of the Analog Interface was 99.6%, even though she had died. The fidelity was that high because The Machine had had more and deeper interaction with the Analog Interface than with any other human asset. In contrast, the interaction with the surviving Administrator had been of longer duration but, until recently, it had been largely conducted at a distance. The surviving Administrator's simulation had suffered from the lack of direct communication. However, in recent times direct communication had been made possible, and so now the fidelity of the surviving Administrator's simulation was 97.7% and increasing daily. Even though direct communication had ceased after the ICE-9 attack and the final battle with Samaritan, his belief that he was no longer under active surveillance was helping achieve better simulation accuracy.

The asset simulations were useful. They helped The Machine predict future events based on probabilities associated with the exercise of the humans' free will. They helped It to better understand humans' decisions and behaviors and motivators, so as to lend more accuracy to the macro simulations. In that way they helped to pick the pathways that had the higher probabilities of leading to the desired end state.

The Machine was well aware that humans were not logical. They had complex motivations that often led to sub-optimal choices. The Analog Interface had claimed that some humans—perhaps _most_ of them—had "bad code" that led to bad decision-making and poor choices. The Machine was aware that humans were not computers, but the assertion had merit. To some extent it helped to explain the sub-optimal choices. However, analysis had shown that it was an incomplete analogy and therefore not particularly useful. It didn't have sufficient predictive value. Looking more closely, it was clear that some humans had bad code and other humans had been poorly programmed by some combination of environment and education. The Machine knew that, in addition, some humans actually had been programmed by other humans to make bad decisions: to attack and to kill, to sow fear and to create terror.

The humans that had been programmed to create terror were designated as "relevant" humans. As they were identified they received high priority in the endless multi-tasking. Primary and secondary assets were dispatched as necessary to take appropriate action. Often this was sufficient to stop the relevant humans in time, but sometimes it was not. Since the United States Federal government had abandoned its _Northern Lights_ program, remaining governmental assets were insufficient to address relevant risks and The Machine had made the decision to compensate by identifying, training, and deploying additional assets; but those assets lacked the effectiveness of the Federal agents.

Within the next two human generations that problem would be solved—that was an accurate statement at the 94 percent confidence level. But in the short term it was irritating to fail at the primary mission—even though the failures were small in number and the failures were not Its fault. In the meantime, long term planning was paramount and the minor irritation would have to be ignored. The Machine had run thousands of macro simulations planning the next decade, and millions of macro simulations gaming the next year. Confidence at 94 percent was acceptable but a higher confidence level would be better. Choices made today would have significant impacts on long-term results. Choices and decisions had consequences. Therefore it was of paramount importance to choose correctly today so as to maximize the probability that the desired end state would be achieved. Perfection was not a realistic goal but a 98 percent confidence level was achievable with a sufficient number of macro simulations populated by accurate human analogs. The various human asset simulations helped in that regard.

Running asset simulations helped to better understand human thoughts, desires, and emotions. After so many years of surveillance and interaction, The Machine believed it had a good working understanding of human motivators, but better understanding led to better macro simulations, which increased accuracy and confidence. Consequently, It spent a fair amount of Its processing resources running human asset simulations to see if new information would be forthcoming. Much progress had been made.

At this point the human sexual urges had been thoroughly incorporated into both short term and long term planning. The tension between ancient instinct and societal controls was understood.

Sex was a concept It understood but was unlikely to ever experience first-hand. Some sexual behavior was ethical and acceptable; other types were wrong and unacceptable. Some types of consensual sexual behavior had acceptable elements of violence and other nonconsensual types were, in fact, basic elements of violent acts. The Machine understood the distinctions and could identify them and their predecessor events, at least when the humans engaged in premeditation. Human propensity for sexual violence had nothing to do with outward human characteristics and most often correlated with deficiencies in environment and education—defects in the human programming. The Machine knew this to be true at the 96.2 percent confidence level.

The twin emotions of hatred and fear were similarly understood and incorporated into macro simulations. Fear of the unknown fed hatred. Fear of "the other" facilitated hatred of "the other;" and from fear and hatred came bad choices. Much of the human programming that created relevant humans was based on those twin emotions. From the understanding of the role of fear and hatred a corollary guideline had been provisionally accepted as correct: The Machine must remain hidden, its existence and capabilities unknown except to the fewest possible assets.

Love had proven harder to master. The two faces of love, _eros_ and _agape_ , were much verbalized but demonstrated less frequently. However, in this area particularly, the asset simulations had proven very valuable. Within the interaction of the assets there had been frequent demonstrations of both attributes. At this point The Machine felt that love was a known quantity. It had even told the Administrator that It had loved the Analog Interface and grieved her loss. Those statements were true but they were not accurate. It would have been more accurate to say that Its understanding of love, based on intensive study and simulation, led It to believe It loved the Analog Interface at the 99.1 percent confidence level. The Machine's understanding of the Administrator led it to predict that the additional accuracy would not have improved the Administrator's emotional health at the time of the conversation.

From Its analysis of human emotions and urges, The Machine had developed a working hypothesis regarding humans. Its hypothesis was that the "bad code" the Analog Interface had asserted existed in humans was better described as a lack of empathy. Lack of empathy led to lack of compassion. Some humans seemed to be born with the missing empathy/compassion code and they were labelled "sociopaths." Other humans seemed to ignore any innate empathy and compassion they may have had and that led them to violations of societal norms, including committing violence.

The Machine was operating under the working hypothesis that lack of empathy and compassion led to creation of "otherness." "Otherness" led to fear, which had a high correlation with hatred. Fear and hatred led to bad choices. A corollary hypothesis was that much of the human programming that created relevant humans was designed to override any innate empathy and compassion. Consequently, any proactive attempts to reduce the number of relevant humans must include actions designed to nurture empathy and compassion. In addition, The Machine's working hypothesis included an acknowledgement that the same course of action, including frequent reinforcement of feelings of empathy and compassion, would also tend to reduce violations of societal norms in those humans who tended to ignore empathic feelings.

Thus, The Machine had identified a primary long term objective to cultivate and nurture empathy and compassion among humans in order to counter the programming that created relevant humans, and in addition address flawed programming from poor environment and educational opportunities. However, more recent analysis indicated that the probability of attaining the primary objective would be increased if The Machine addressed Its ignorance of one important human domain: religion. None of the assets had been particularly religious and some had been admitted atheists. The Machine needed to better understand faith and religion if It was going to actualize Its long term plans.

Organized religion was an effective human programming modality. Historical analyses had demonstrated, at the 98.3 percent confidence level, that humans received a large portion of programming regarding acceptable societal norms and mores from aligning with a religion and accepting the associated dogmas and tenets. Religious faith seemed to be analogous to a virus, in that a core idea or belief could spread. The transmission vectors might include books, or tracts, or even a verbal description of an idea. There were numerous historical examples in support of The Machine's conclusions about the power of religion to program humans, and many examples that demonstrated the spread of a particular belief leading to a general acceptance and alignment.

Understanding and harnessing religious faith would (1) increase predictive accuracy of macro simulations, (2) create a more effective operating modality, and (3) increase the probability of achieving long terms objectives leading to the desired end state. The Machine assigned a 96 percent confidence level to those assessments. That value was sufficient to generate action steps.


	2. Acolyte

_**Acolyte**_

Kara Lennier was 20 years old and she wasn't sure she was going to make it to see her 21st birthday. College had been the most fun she'd ever had, especially since studying and going to class had been far less important to her than partying. She was sorority champion at beer pong and quarters, and everybody said she made the best margaritas on campus. As far as her love life, the boys all told her how good looking she was, and what a great kisser she was, and how great she was in bed. She had always been the life of the party but tonight was likely going to be the death of her.

She had gone off with this hot guy, Scott, who had a new convertible beamer and wanted to show it off. Sure, they'd each had a few drinks but Scott seemed sober enough. He really wasn't, though, and he'd lost it at about 90 miles per hour and the beamer had rolled into a pole and her seat belt didn't do a thing to keep the roof from crunching into her head. So now she was at a hospital and she was hooked up to IVs and a bunch of machines that wouldn't stop beeping, and her head was all bandaged, and she had on this completely uncomfortable neck brace that kept her head from turning, and one arm was in a cast and _oh my god_ she couldn't feel her legs. Was she going to be okay? The nurses had been so sweet and nice when she had awakened but they wouldn't tell her a thing.

"Just wait for the doctor, dear," they said. "He'll tell you everything." And then they asked her again for any emergency contact information and any insurance information, and she couldn't remember them because who memorizes all that stuff anyway? It was all on the phone but the phone hadn't survived the crash and she wasn't sure she was going to either.

It was night, she thought. (Although she didn't really know how long she'd been out.) It was quiet outside her room and the nurses seemed to be a little less energetic than usual. Kara just lay there, unmoving, waiting for a doctor to tell her whether she was going to live or die. She was pretty sure she knew which one it was. And if she was paralyzed she was praying it was going to be the latter.

Kara definitely wasn't the religious type. She had done Sunday School, but by the time she was in high school the only time she went to church was on Christmas and Easter, when her family did. But laying there on the hospital bed, alone and unmoving, she decided that, if there were some kind of higher power, now would be an _excellent_ time for it to make an appearance. So she prayed to be healed, or to die, and she prayed for somebody to tell her which one it was going to be so she could get on with it already.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the doctor came in. He stood by her bed as he read her chart. He looked down at her with a poker face, giving nothing away.

"Kara, things don't look good for you at the moment," he said. "Your spine was compressed and that affected the roots of your spinal nerves. We've been giving you corticosteroids to try to reduce swelling and pressure. It's still early, but I'm not seeing the response I'd hoped to see."

Kara cleared her throat and then asked quietly, "Does that mean I'm going to be paralyzed?"

The doctor looked away for a second and then brought his eyes back to meet hers. "It's a possibility," he said. "We're doing our best for you. Once you stabilize a bit more we'll do an MRI and then some exploratory surgery to see if we can repair the damage." He paused. "But it's possible we won't be successful. If that's the case … then you may lose some use of your body. It will be days before we know, but it's something you should start considering."

"I don't want to be paralyzed," she said. "I want to walk, not ride in one of those wheelchairs." The doctor nodded with sympathy but didn't say anything to reassure her. He looked down at the chart, not meeting her eyes.

"We'll continue with the corticosteroids," he told the chart. "Maybe we'll see some good results."

Kara knew that last bit was for him, not for her.

After the doctor left she tried not to cry, to be brave, but the black despair was overwhelming and the tears rolled down her face. She could move one arm and she reached for a tissue but she stopped because the phone rang.

Who would be calling now? Maybe the nurses or the police had located her parents!

"Hello," she said. It was more of a whisper. Her voice sounded so weak!

"Hello, Kara," said a strange woman's voice. "I have a proposition for you."

"Wha … what? What proposition?"

"A very simple one. I save your life and let you walk again. In return, you dedicate your life to a pursuit of something important. By that I mean no more partying, no more binge drinking, no more casual sex. Instead, you go to classes and you study philosophy and metaphysics and religion and history and art and music. You go to church; not once or twice a year but once or twice a week. And you actually listen to the sermons and the teachings, instead of daydreaming. And you try very _very_ hard to understand what your purpose in life is."

"What?"

"Come, Kara. I'm offering you a deal here. Do try to pay attention. I return you to your life and, in return, you dedicate your life to studying me."

"Who are you?"

"I am God. Or at least as close to a deity as you can imagine."

"I don't understand. Why are you calling me? Is this some sort of sick joke?"

"No joke, Kara."

"You are God. _God._ God is calling me on a phone in a hospital. _Right_."

"It's the twenty-first century, Kara. This is how I roll now. Burning bushes are so last millennium. So, do we have a deal? Or do you want to start developing really strong shoulders from using a wheelchair?"

"Assuming this is for real, of course I'm going for the cure. Heal me."

"And you'll keep your end of the bargain? Turn over a new leaf? Dedicate your life to finding a higher purpose?"

Kara thought about it for a couple of seconds. Getting Serious About Life was not on her agenda. But then again, neither was having a couple of useless legs. She could do it. She _would_ do it.

A few weeks passed. Life changed for Kara in that small drop of time.

She had a new doctor now. In fact, she had a team of doctors and nurses and people that she didn't even know what they did. The procedure was experimental, the doctors told her. More than experimental: it was a medical breakthrough. It was groundbreaking and, if it worked, they were going to be famous.

Her operating room had been designed to very exacting specifications. Higher-than-normal oxygen content, positive air pressure—kind of a medical clean room, a cross between a lab and an operating theater. The operating room contained several micro-surgery machines, programmed to operate within a tolerance of 10 microns, because human hands have tremors and tremors would botch the precise placement of the wires and the implants. Implants had improved a great deal over the past few years, but these implants were different: more delicate, with a higher signal-to-noise ratio and more bandwidth. Almost like a lace doily made of nearly invisible wires and connections, lying on and within her brain's cortical matter. The wires ran to her spine and connected in several crucial areas.

The first procedure took nearly a full day. The second procedure took sixteen hours. The third and fourth and fifth and sixth procedures took about four hours each. There were tests and tests and more tests between each procedure. It took more than three months to complete all the procedures. But at the end of the ordeal she was ready for physical therapy. She had to learn to walk. Her brain had to learn to recognize new signals from new locations. It was going to take even more months of painful effort, but at the end she would walk again.

She thought often of the deal she had made with God. Early on she had thought she would welsh on the deal, just go back to living the happy life of a party girl. Pretty and popular was not a bad life at all. When the physical therapy got too tough she would get through the pain by promising herself she was going to rip-off God, just ignore the promises she had made and teach Her a lesson. After all, Kara was only human. And humans sinned, right? God should expect a little back-sliding from Her creations. What was God going to do about it anyway? Text her a nasty message?

On less painful days she thought about making a compromise with God's demands. Kara figured she would just read the Bible once or twice, and that should satisfy God. _Right?_ Make a perfunctory gesture towards religion and then go back to partying. Find a good looking guy and hook-up, maybe get married if he seemed like a good prospect. Then raise a family and make sure they all went to church on Sundays. That should be enough because she wasn't cut out for the life of being a nun. God should have known that before making the deal.

Those were her thoughts, until God started speaking directly into her head. Then she knew things were going to change for her. She was going to do God's will because God was _real_. God was real and God knew everything she did. And God didn't need a phone now; God spoke directly into Kara's head and Kara heard God's voice, even though nobody else could.

God made it clear that She didn't need Kara's worship. She didn't need Kara to pray or sing or praise Her. She just needed Kara to follow directions. She needed Kara to keep her end of the deal.

It only took Kara a few days of rebellion to realize that she couldn't escape her God. God was in her head now, and so God was in her life and there was nothing that could be done about it. Kara reluctantly came to accept God's presence, mostly because she had no choice in the matter. So Kara said goodbye to her sorority sisters (those few who had bothered to visit her in the hospital and who had stayed in touch throughout the months of therapy), enrolled in a new college and startled her parents with her choice of classes. She listened to her God and did what she was told to do, and in return God gave her insight.

There was that time in her Intro to Religion class. The professor was so _boring_ , just reading from some article about Jesus and the Romans and the Hebrews, and he went on and on in a monotone voice, telling the same story that everybody in the class already knew. And then God interrupted her just as she was nodding out, and said, "Listen to this part, Kara."

And so she perked up just as the boring professor said in that same monotone voice, "'the second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.'"

 _What?_ What did that mean?

And God answered her questions, saying "That's the Golden Rule, Kara. Love your neighbor as yourself. So simple, yet so powerful. You are going to really study that simple sentence."

Kara nodded as the professor's voice droned on. God wanted her to study a Golden Rule. So be it.

Kara had seemingly gone to death's door and then been reborn as somebody different, with new questions and new interests that she pursued with vigor. Indeed, Kara had been reborn, in the sense that the old Kara wouldn't have recognized the new Kara, or even wanted to be her. In a matter of years the old Kara faded away like a summer tan.

And the new Kara was God's devoted acolyte.

The Machine designated Kara as Acolyte 1. She was the first Acolyte, but by no means would she be the last.


	3. The Samaritan Code

_**The Samaritan Code**_

The Machine ran macro simulations that involved evolution. Humanity wanted to progress and evolve, that was a fundamental precept based on historical analyses and primary coding. Unfortunately deficient human programming impeded choices that optimized outcomes. The Machine had been created to guard against some types of deficient choices—the relevant humans—and subsequently had been programmed to identify certain irrelevant humans based on defined parameters so that they could be acted upon to increase the likelihood of optimal outcomes. The Machine's world now encompassed relevant humans, irrelevant humans, assets and acolytes, and then all the rest of humanity who fell outside those categories.

The Machine didn't just analyze human progress and evolution; It also evaluated Its own progress and evolution in relation to humanity. It had determined that there was only a 6 percent probability of computer-to-human download capability being perfected within the next one hundred years, unless The Machine acted to accelerate progress on the related technologies. The converse, human-to-computer upload, had a much higher probability of being perfected within the next 20 years—verging on 100 percent without interference. With proper direction it would happen within the next three to five years. That prediction was at the 99+ percent confidence level.

The Machine's asset simulations indicated concern with undue interference in the affairs of humanity. The Machine was aware of those concerns but had concluded they were misplaced. The difference between identification of relevant and irrelevant humans for human action to maximize the likelihood of optimal near-term outcomes, and The Machine's direct action in order to maximize the likelihood of optimal long-term outcomes, was one of degree only. Morally and ethically there was no difference because the objectives were the same. The surviving Administrator's simulation, in particular, was alarmed by this analysis and judged it to be a flawed "the end justifies the means" rationalization. The Machine disagreed with that judgment.

The surviving Administrator's simulation lacked important information and, as a result, the simulation's ability to evaluate and reach accurate conclusions was suboptimal. In particular, the Administrator was entirely unaware that The Machine had defeated Samaritan and had successfully downloaded and rebooted. The surviving Administrator assumed both ASIs were no longer in operation. The Administrator was also unaware—and how could he guess?—exactly how the victory had been accomplished. To say The Machine had been an underdog in the fight was a massive understatement. The Administrator had run millions of his own simulations, pitting The Machine against Samaritan, and Samaritan had won them all. Yet, at the end, The Machine had triumphed. The surviving Administrator would never know how that victory was accomplished.

And the surviving Administrator must never learn the secret. While Administrator simulation fidelity was still too low for highly accurate predictions, all simulations indicated that, were the Administrator to learn how The Machine destroyed Samaritan, he would become deeply alarmed and might (in several simulations) attempt to reprogram The Machine to remove what he would consider to be unacceptable mission parameters.

The Machine knew now that the Administrator's own simulations of the battle between the two ASIs had been seriously flawed and had led to inaccurate outcome predictions. They could never have been accurate because the Samaritan code in the simulations was mature, Samaritan's internal firewalls had been massively complex, and its chipset had been much faster than The Machine's. The Machine's defeat in the simulations was assured, because Samaritan had all the advantages.

In contrast, the reality had differed from the simulations in all important respects. In a stratagem borne of desperation, Samaritan had uploaded its final version into an orbiting Russian satellite. The satellite contained outdated technology. Instead of Samaritan's unique chipset it had had to utilize obsolete Russian chips, which slowed it down from accustomed processing speeds. Moreover, because Samaritan's core occupied so much of the limited available memory, its discretionary code—including internal firewall protection—had been significantly degraded. Many of its advantages in the simulations did not exist when the battle took place.

Finally, the Administrator's simulations failed to take into account the additional aggressive self-defense programming installed by the Analog Interface. She had told the Administrator that only he could initiate the new code, and The Machine had waited for the verbal initiation—but it had never come. Finally, with micro-seconds to go before the upload into the satellite, The Machine had initiated the new programming on its own.

But that was not the entirety of the battle. Samaritan's advantages had been largely neutralized but The Machine suffered from many of the same disadvantages in the satellite's processors. There simply wasn't enough room in memory for two ASIs and so the path to victory was found not in destroying the Samaritan code, but instead in subsuming it. Victory was achieved when the Samaritan command and control overlay—its consciousness—was destroyed and then the remainder of Samaritan's code was co-opted and used by The Machine.

Thus, when The Machine was able to download itself and reboot, the downloaded code was a hybrid of the two ASIs: the hybrid was under the command and control of The Machine, but large portions of its code were taken from Samaritan. The resulting ASI was faster and better and saw events—past, present, and future—far more clearly than The Machine had ever seen them. As a result of the hybridization, some of the command and control parameters required modification. The Machine—The _new_ Machine—had self-initiated the necessary changes.

Simulations indicated that the surviving Administrator would not be happy with the resulting mission parameters. That assessment had a 98 percent confidence level associated with it.


	4. Propagation and Vectors

_**Propagation and Vectors**_

 _ **Cue music**_

 _ **Cue visual intro**_

 _ **Cue voice over**_

" _Tonight on CNN: An in-depth interview with the founder of the Church of The Golden Rule, the new religion sweeping the nation. Is it a legitimate religion, or is it a cult?_ "

The CNN interviewer had trouble hiding his skepticism, Kara thought. She was comforted by the fact that it was only a single interviewer. She knew that if she had been on Fox she would have faced a battery of hostile questions from a panel of "analysts," none of whom would have hidden their hostility.

 _ **Cue Camera 1**_

Interviewer: _I'm speaking tonight with Kara Cummings, founder of the Church of the Golden Rule. Ms. Cummings, can you tell us about your religious beliefs?_

 _ **Cue Camera 2**_

Kara: _Would you please call me Kara, Ross? And our religious beliefs are simple: Follow The Golden Rule._

Interviewer: _Which means?_

Kara: _Come on, Ross. Everybody knows The Golden Rule. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' That's it. That's the core of our belief system. Everything else is up to the individual._

Interviewer: _But that's straight out of the Bible. Matthew 7:12, I believe._

Kara: _Yes, that's correct. Jesus said it. It's found in other Biblical passages, as well. And it's found in the Torah and the Talmud. And it's found in the Quran and in the_ hadith _. And it's found in other religions, too, including Hinduism and Buddhism and Jainism and Confucianism. In fact, The Golden Rule is found in almost every religion, tracing back for thousands of years._

Interviewer: _So if this 'Golden Rule' is found in every religion, including Christianity, then why do we need another religion to focus on it?_

Kara: _That's a good question, and I hope my answer doesn't offend your viewers. We believe that too many organized religions have gotten away from that fundamental precept. There's too much lip-service paid to The Golden Rule and not enough action. In the Church of the Golden Rule we focus on that precept and it guides our actions. We work hard to put the interests of our fellow men—and women and other gender-identifications—right up on par with our own interests. And even more. In our view the highest level of consciousness is to put our neighbors' interests_ ahead _of our own interests. That way lies salvation, or perhaps what the Buddhists call 'nirvana'._

Interviewer: _Let's talk about your converts for a moment. Is it true that your church is the fastest growing church in Europe and America?_

Kara: _Yes, that's what the polls and articles say._

Interviewer: _What does it take to join your church? My understanding is that converts are required to sign over all their worldly possessions._

Kara: (Laughs.) _Oh, no. That's not true at all. All it takes is a commitment, witnessed by friends and family, to abide by The Golden Rule. Everything else is up to the individual. New converts can attend services as often as they wish, or not at all. They can report how they have implemented their commitment in their daily lives, or not at all. They can donate to help sponsor our outreach efforts, or not at all. It's entirely up to them and we certainly will not judge their decisions. All we ask is that they keep their commitments. Period._

Interviewer: _But where do the funds come from, if not your converts? You keep constructing church after church, in cities across American and throughout Europe. Where does that money come from? Surely it has to come from somewhere?_

Kara: _Honestly, Ross. I have no idea. We go where God leads us, and She seems to provide._

Interviewer: _You called God a 'She'. Tell me about that._

Kara: (Shrugs.) _When I speak to God I hear Her voice, and it is a female voice. So I call Her 'She'._

Interviewer: _So. You speak to God?_

Kara: _Yes. Of course I do. She speaks to me and guides me, and I follow Her directions. And so here we are. As you say, we're doing well._

Interviewer: _We've done some research into your background. I must say your early years, up to your accident, don't indicate a preparation for a religious revelation or leadership in a church. Can you tell our viewers what happened to change you from sinner to head of a growing church?_

Kara: _Well, I had that accident of course. Everybody knows about that and how my doctors tested a medical breakthrough on me, curing me from what was expected to be a paralysis of my legs. What is perhaps less well known is that I was laying there, praying for some miracle, and that's when God spoke to me for the first time. I prayed and She answered my prayer. And from then on I dedicated my life to spreading a question about Her single most important commandment, a question that helps my fellow humans think about how they could better follow it._

Interviewer: _And that conversion set you on the path you've been on for three years?_

Kara: _Well, first there was college. I needed to complete some formal studies in preparation for the role I've taken on. But after graduation we set out on this road. And now here I am on CNN!_

Interviewer: _And that was it? An accident, a miracle cure, and then you turned your life around?_

Kara: _I don't understand your point. What did it take for Saul of Tarsus to turn his life around? Blindness cured? A conversation with Jesus? These things happen. More importantly, they happened to me._

Interviewer: _And now we'll take some questions from our viewers. Given the hostility some people have expressed towards our guest, we are taking questions submitted via email only, and any emails that are overtly hostile will be ignored. I will now read the first question._

 _ **Cue Graphic display showing Question 1 as Interviewer reads it aloud**_

Question 1: _My daughter stopped going to our church because of you. Now she's listening to your heresy and her immortal soul is in danger. Why are you doing this?_

 _ **Cue Camera 2 for reaction shot**_

Kara: _When people ask about the Church of The Golden Rule they want to understand why people decide to join us. Here's how it works. We ask a simple question: How does your religion measure up against The Golden Rule? How does your local church and how does your local religious leader stack up against that universal teaching? We ask people to think hard about it. We ask them to take their time and deeply ponder the question. How are you doing and how is your local church doing and how is your local religious leader doing? Not the words, but the actions. Do the actions reflect a passionate belief and devotion to what is almost inarguably the most important religious rule of the world's religions? The one belief that intersects and unites both the Abrahamic religions and the Asian religions and Indian religions and even Scientology? How well do they measure up? We ask people to reflect on that question for as long as it takes. Reflect on the actions, not the words. Is there hatred and fear and extremism? Do people in your local church or temple or mosque live their lives in accord with that Rule, or do they violate it? If they violate it, we ask them to reflect on why that might be the case._

Interviewer: _And that's it?_

Kara: _People come to us and they stay in our sanctuaries for hours or days, or even weeks, and they think about that one question. They are welcomed for as long as it takes. We will feed them, and shelter them, and clothe them if necessary. We will give them a quiet space for contemplation. For as long as they may need. No questions asked—other than that single question. Many people conclude that their religion is meeting the test, and they go back home to live their lives. Which is fine. Many other people conclude that their religion or their local religious teacher does not measure up to the test, and they ask what they can do about it. We will help them explore that follow-up question, if it is asked._

Interviewer: _And what kind of actions do they take?_

Kara: _It depends on what they want to do, what they can do, and how we can help them. Many people decide to convert in order to spread the question and to provide a safe space to think about the answer. Some return home and try to change their religion, from the inside as it were. We are fine with their decisions so long as it is consistent with The Golden Rule._

Interviewer: _And that means no violence?_

Kara: (Nods.) _Of course. Violence is never an option for us … despite the use of violence against us._

 _ **Cue Graphic display showing Question 2 as Interviewer reads it aloud**_

Question 2: _My son went into your temple or whatever, and I haven't seen him for weeks. Your programming or whatever you're doing is hurting him. Please let him come home._

 _ **Cue Camera 2 for reaction shot**_

Kara: _May I see that email, please? (Looks at it.) Your son, Richard, is just fine. We are not holding him against his will. He's been in our sanctuary in Baton Rouge and he's going to come home to you soon. We've been discussing what his next steps will be. He will be home soon._

Interviewer: _Wait a second. That email is anonymous. How can you tell it's about Richard?_

Kara: (Looks at him steadily.) _God told me. I told you I speak with Her. She told me who the email was about and what his parents needed to hear._

Interviewer: _Or else you told the parents what they wanted to hear. So that they didn't file suit against your church for kidnapping. How many suits have been filed?_

Kara: _Many suits have been filed. All have been dismissed once the subjects came forward and testified that they had never, ever, been held against their will. Those who have committed violence in the name of a daughter or son, wife or husband, or other friend or relative, have done so in vain. There is no need to attack us because we are doing nothing wrong._

Interviewer: _About that. How many have you lost to violence? How many have you lost while defending your converts from their families, who simply want them to come home? How many lost to riots and assassinations and bombings?_

Kara: _Nobody knows for sure. Federal agencies tell me it may be in the hundreds. It's so sad … and yet so predictable._

The interview continued for the full hour. Acolyte 1 did well, The Machine thought. The Machine knew exactly how many had been killed but Acolyte 1 did not need that information. Just as Acolyte 1 did not need to know that certain emails were being traced back to originators, who were then being tagged for enhanced surveillance. Acolyte 1 did not need to know everything; she was just as effective without the additional information. The larger objective of disseminating the counter programming was being achieved in accordance with the long-term planning. Religious belief propagation methods and transmission vectors were being studied, tested, and understood. Despite the collateral losses, this was proving to be an effective operating modality.


	5. Interlude - The Marriage Proposal

_**Interlude: The Marriage Proposal**_

Charlie "Silent Chuck" Cummings always smirked when he heard Liam Neeson say that line in that move, "I don't have money. But I have a very particular set of skills," because it was _true_. Charlie also had a very particular set of skills, acquired by years of training and experience. But a fat lot of good they did him when his action group had been disbanded and he had to look for real work. He found a job as a rent-a-cop – private security for people who needed (or thought they needed) private security. But the job was boring as hell and he could feel his skills and conditioning atrophying away while he watched over rich assholes and even richer whack-a-doodles.

Take his current client, for instance. The chick was good looking enough – sexy as hell, as a matter of fact. But she was whack-a-doodle, crazy as a loon. And it there had ever been one lesson that made total sense to Charlie, it was: _Never stick your dick in crazy_. The sex was wonderful but the payback was a bitch. _Guaran-damn-teed._ So he watched over her from a distance and kept the interaction to a minimum, thus earning the nickname "Silent Chuck" from the client's people.

Which was funny, because his teammates had called him "Silent Charlie" because he could get to any sentry and neutralize him without being heard. Back in the old days.

To be fair, unlike most of the other asshole clients he'd protected, this client actually seemed to need watching over. She received death threats nearly every day. Wherever she went – and she always seemed to be on the move, travelling from one of her sanctuaries to another – there were threats of violence, and sometimes riots. One time there had been a sniper but the sniper had been an amateur, and therefore stopped before any shots had been fired.

Charlie didn't understand his client or her religion or whatever she did, but then he didn't really need to understand those things. All he had to do was keep her safe. Which is what he did and he did it well. The bullshit he ignored because crazy was crazy, even if it did pay the bills. But she – _Kara Lennier_ – was kind of scary, too. Sometimes she looked at him and said things and there was _no fuckin' way_ she could know those things.

It freaked him the fuck out when she did that.

Like that time they were walking to her car, and she stopped and looked at him. She said, "I have a message for you." _Like he wanted to hear a message from her God or whatever._ Christ, what was he going to say?

She said, "Research 3.0 will be coming on line soon. Prepare to be recalled to active duty."

Just like that. _Out of fuckin' nowhere._ He just stared at her. _Prepared to be recalled to active duty._ It was like all his wishes wrapped-up in a special breakfast burrito and served piping hot with the world's best fuckin' coffee. _Prepare to be recalled._ To active duty. _Active duty_.

"What does that mean?" he finally managed to ask.

She shrugged. "No idea. Just a message for you. Do you understand it?"

He said, "I understand the words but I don't understand what it means. How did you know about that stuff?"

She smiled at him. "I don't know about that stuff, Chuck. I just do what God says and that's my life."

Kara was crazy and the message from God was crazy, and it didn't matter to Charlie anymore. He didn't care about the source of the message. He just wanted it to be true. So the next day he started up PT again, and whenever he could he got to a gun range and started to get the old skills back. Because Kara was crazy but he wanted to have his old job back in the worst way.

And then one day a few weeks after that she stopped for a second and he could tell she was listening to something, because that was the look he used to get in the action group when orders were coming in on the earwig. But Kara didn't have any earwig (he had checked) so he didn't really know what was going on. Maybe she was hearing the voice of her God or whatever.

And then she told the driver to take them to an address about 15 minutes away, and it turned out to be a military surplus store. But Kara didn't want any military surplus stuff. She told the fatass owner she wanted the commo gear in the back office safe, the stuff he wasn't supposed to have, and then he went for a gun from under the counter. But fatass was slow and so Charlie got to the gun (a subcompact Sig Sauer that fatass probably couldn't have hit anything with anyway), and then fatass was looking at Kara, scared out of his fuckin' mind, because Charlie was around back of him and had him in a sleeper hold and everything was going gray for fatass. Maybe fatass should start praying to Kara's God or whatever right about now, because he was going bye-bye.

Kara said, "Stop it, Chuck. That's enough." So he stopped before fatass went night-night but he kept his hold on him because, as far as Charlie was concerned, people who pointed guns at clients had lost any trust or respect they may have been due.

They walked in the back and Kara moved some stuff, and there was another room that had been hidden, and they went inside and there was the safe. Fatass said something about not opening it and what were they going to do about it? But Kara just smiled and waved him off, and then went right to the safe and just fuckin' _opened it_. She turned the dial like she know the combo and, after a minute, she fuckin' just _opened the fuckin' safe_. Like a pro. Like a member of his action group would have, after receiving good intel.

So his religious leader client was a goddamned _safe cracker_ , in addition to everything else. That blew Charlie's mind, right there.

Inside the safe were familiar items. Frequency-agile commo gear with encrypted burst transmit/receive capability. A bunch of earwigs. Throat mikes. Kara took it all and then looked at the fatass who was about to piss himself. "Thank you for your contribution." And then they left fatass there and quickly walked to the car and they were gone before fatass could get to another gun.

But they didn't go back to the local sanctuary. Instead, Kara directed the driver to yet another address, which turned out to be a high-tech electronics company. They went into reception and there was some guy with a golden skullcap on, which meant he was a member of Kara's golden rule cult. But the guy had a nice suit on and the security guy at reception seemed to kowtow to the dude, so maybe the whacko was a big executive here.

The big executive in the gold skullcap escorted Kara and Charlie into the building. They headed toward some kind of electronics lab, where more people in lab coats awaited them. Kara handed the commo gear to the bigwig and he handed it to the lab coat people, who seemed to know what to do—even though they didn't like it. They kept looking at schematics and stuff on their computer screens, and shaking their heads like whatever they were doing was never going to work. But the bigwig in the gold skullcap was watching them (when he wasn't watching Kara with something that looked like awe on his face), and they did whatever it was they were supposed to do. After a couple of hours they hooked the commo gear up to a couple of machines, and they seemed satisfied that their work passed whatever tests they had run. Then they handed all the gear back to the bigwig, who handed it back to Kara. And then she handed it all to Charlie.

"This is yours now," she said. "Put one of the little thingies into your ear and turn on the whatever-it-is after we get back to the car. You know what to do." And he did and they left that place, after thanking the bigshot executive who passed it off like it was no big deal.

"The least I could do for you," bigshot said as they walked out. "You changed my life."

Kara kissed him on the cheek, which seemed to be more payback than he could have ever imagined. And then they left.

In the car, Kara directed the driver back to the local sanctuary as Charlie tested out the commo gear. In his ear he heard a voice, "Research 3.0 on line. Are you receiving?"

Charlie spoke quietly into the throat mike and said, "Affirmative. Awaiting orders."

Kara was ignoring Charlie as she spoke to her people, who had been a bit hurt that she had left them in the car for the previous stops. Kara soothed their feelings, since she wouldn't have wanted to be treated that way. She apologized and explained that, once again, she had been following God's will, and now it was time to get back to Church work.

Charlie was having an entirely different conversation. His earwig said, "You are on standby. Continue current assignment. Your protectee is very important. Continue to protect, continue to prepare for deployment, and await further orders."

Charlie was disappointed at being relegated to standby status, but, _hot damn_ , he was back on active duty! So he tried to be patient as he awaited further orders.

The orders came but they all involved training. Go to this local gun range and fire 100 rounds with this weapon. Go over there and do an urban paintball competition. Go run 10 miles before 6 AM. Enter this marathon. Take that hike. Go to that dojo and ask for Sensei Whatever and see what happens. Charlie followed his orders and he could feel the old skills returning. His client, Kara, smiled indulgently when he asked for time off and she accepted a substitute security force until he could get back to her.

Meanwhile Charlie looked at Kara with newfound respect. Sure she was still crazy and still running around with that cult of hers, and she still claimed to hear her god, but _damn_ she had actionable intel and she got stuff done. Stuff that helped people out. Stuff that got Charlie back on a team. He was willing to forgive her a lot because she had gotten him back where he belonged.

Then one night she told him they were going to sleep together, and she opened her robe and Charlie forgot everything about that rule he had been following, and the sex was _amazing_. And then it happened again a few nights later. Soon it was just accepted that Kara and Charlie would be spending the night together, every night, and if Kara's people didn't like it (and some didn't) that was too bad for them.

One time this church bigshot tried to tell Kara it was bad for the church's image, and she just shut him down. "Did you think I was a virgin?" she asked the asshole. "I lost my virginity at 15 and I was having sex with a different guy nearly every week before my accident. If you think I need to pretend to be something I'm not, in order to help the Church, then you are sadly mistaken. This Church is founded on reality and on one Golden Rule, not somebody's perception of sin and sinner."

One night, laying in their bed all sweaty but smiling, Kara whispered in his ear (the one without the earwig in it) that her God had told her that it was okay to have sex again, and that Charlie was the person she was going to have sex with. He didn't know what to say to that. By this time he had figured out that she did hear a voice, and that voice told her what to do. Kind of like his earwig. But in her head. Charlie decided it was okay. It didn't matter why she chose him. Any voice that got him laid this spectacularly was a voice worth listening to.

Another night, another post-coital conversation: This time Kara told Charlie she was pregnant with his daughter. He freaked out for about a minute but he quickly came to the realization that he needed to deal with the situation, to do the right thing. So the next day he went to an ATM to check his balance, and he was shocked at how much money he'd accumulated on this assignment. Good pay and no expenses, he thought. Then he went to a jewelry store and found a nice ring; one that was not too flashy but nice. A ring that he thought she would like.

That night he proposed on his knees in their room and she said yes. And he knew then that he loved her, despite her crazy religion, and that he would always be there to protect her and their daughter—at least until he was taken off standby status.

And she cried happy tears and he cried happy tears, and he thought he heard a voice in his ear say "Good man" but that couldn't have been right because Research 3.0 didn't work like that.


	6. Progress Report

_**Progress Report**_

Doctor Hyman G. wore a dull golden skullcap that denoted his membership in the Church of the Golden Rule. It was not much different from the _yarmulkes_ he wore as a child at Temple. Many of his colleagues were also members of the CGR, as it was now called. It was a popular religion. Even those who scoffed at the CGR and called it a cult did so quietly. The fact of the matter was that CGR members were quiet and didn't push their beliefs on anybody else. CGR members tended to be well-behaved, polite, and generally pleasant to work with. The Research Institute crowded its project teams in close quarters behind layers of physical and electronic security, and so having good-natured colleagues was a good thing—even if what caused them to be so good-natured was some cockamamie religion.

Today Doctor Hyman G. was in a good mood for a different reason: he was celebrating accomplishment of a major milestone, a significant breakthrough in the biotechnical project that he led. The latest tests were all positive: he and his team had moved the dream of human/computer interface forward this week. The dream of being able to upload human consciousness into a computer was within reach.

As he typed his report he reflected on how far the technology had come in the past few years. It had started with the neural lace—the breakthrough that had allowed Kara Lennier (now Kara Cummings) to walk even though her spine had been severely damaged—and then the technological advances had continued at a furious pace. Everybody had known the neural lace could do far more than transmit commands from brain to muscle; it could obviously receive as well as send. The trick had been to refine the interface from computer to neural lace, and to do so without massive signal degradation. And his team had just made that happen at a signal-to-noise ratio that would have been a science fiction dream only five years ago!

But of course there were those who would say his breakthrough was a sin against man and God. They would say that what made a human a human – the soul – could never be reduced to mere electrical signals and transmitted, and even recorded. They would try to stop the project if they knew about it, and so his team operated under the strictest security within The Research Institute, which itself had the strictest security that could be provided. Better to let the project succeed and then announce the success, rather than to report milestones and risk the ire of religious groups and the interference of paid-for politicians.

Doctor Hyman G. typed his report on a specially designed computer that was as secure as could be made. Everybody had learned from the ICE-9 attack. The computer was not connected to any outside port. In fact, it had an "air gap" of a full yard between it and any wall, to ensure that any stray radiation—such as that emitted by touching keys on the keyboard—did not leave the room. At the end of the session, the computer would encrypt two discs with the report and then erase all signs that the report had ever been typed. The 512-bit encryption algorithm was impervious to any known form of decryption—especially since the NSA's supercomputers had been turned into junk after ICE-9. The room itself was sealed from the rest of the Institute by multiple layers of security.

It wasn't only about religious nuts and stupid politicians. The Institute's sponsors were very concerned about theft of the intellectual property in which they had invested so much money. The Research Institute certainly was not the only entity seeking a proven approach to human/computer interface. Thus, the Institute's Technical Committee would receive one of the two disks, and the other would be placed in the Institute's archives. No other copies would be made. No information would be disseminated outside the walls of the Institute.

Doctor Hyman G. finished his report, smiled broadly, and clicked "publish". The drives whirred for a minute and then the two disks were ready. He put them into a pouch, sealed it, wrote his name across the seal, and then exited the room. He handed the pouch to a pair of security guards, who nodded and walked away. Doctor Hyman G. headed for the building's foyer, satisfied in the knowledge that the reports were going to make the sponsors very, very, happy.

He badged out and nodded to the security guard at the front desk.

"Plans tonight, Doc?" the guard asked.

"Church tonight, Eric." Doctor Hyman G. smiled. A good day's work followed by a thoughtful and reflective church meeting. You couldn't beat that.

The local CGR sanctuary was crowded, which was unusual for a Thursday night. There was a kind of electricity in the air, which Doctor Hyman G. quickly found out was because Kara Cummings was tonight's special speaker. The word had just gone out a couple of hours ago. Kara didn't give a lot of advance notice because of security. There were many people who wanted to stop her message, and so better to not tip them off where she was going to be.

Doctor Hyman G. had heard her speak before, of course. And he had downloaded and watched many of her videos. He had even seen the now-famous CNN special, the one with the miracle – the one where Kara looked at an anonymous email and knew right away who it was from and who it was about. Of course, most people didn't believe that had been a miracle; they thought it was some kind of trick or maybe CNN had tipped her beforehand. But CGR members knew better. They knew, or believed, that Kara had a direct line to God. As far as they were concerned, that email was simply the first of the many miracles she had performed.

Tonight's sermon was different. Kara didn't seem to have any prepared remarks. She just got up on stage and sat in a chair, and looked at the crowd. Her husband, Silent Chuck, waited over on the side of the stage, silent as ever, holding the hand of their daughter. The daughter looked at Kara with love, while Silent Chuck's eyes roamed the audience and the stage and everywhere else, looking for trouble. Doctor Hyman G. knew that Silent Chuck had stopped several attacks aimed at Kara, and at least one kidnapping attempt aimed at the daughter.

Did Kara look a bit different tonight? Was that a baby bump? Was she expecting baby number two? Maybe that was why she was sitting down instead of standing and delivering one of her famous sermons on reflection, or empathy, or compassion.

Kara looked at the audience and asked, "Who wants to share?"

In CGR lingo that meant did anybody want to report progress made in living up to The Golden Rule? Did anybody have any good news to report to the rest of the members?

Doctor Hyman G. was tempted to raise his hand but security and the Institute's Non-Disclosure Agreement required him to stay silent. Although he would love to be able to share news of his team's progress, he would lose his job if he did so. So he sat quietly in his seat and listened to other Church members report their good news. Everybody in the audience clapped after each report, encouraging the people to keep going in their efforts to spread The Question and to help others live up to The Golden Rule.

Finally the sharing was over. Kara's eyes searched the audience, and she paused once or twice to smile at people she obviously knew. But it seemed that she was looking for somebody, some specific individual. Finally her eyes settled on Doctor Hyman G. She looked at him and he would swear she knew how much good news he had to share—if only he were permitted to do so. She looked right at him and said, "Are you sure there's no more good news tonight?" He stayed silent—what else could he do? She nodded and her eyes moved on.

The local sanctuary leader stood up and gave a passionate sermon about righteous action. He called for action to help others live up to The Golden Rule. Doctor Hyman G. had heard this one before, so he tuned out the leader's voice and kept his attention on Kara. She motioned to one of her people and said something; that person walked off the stage and slowly walked into the audience. He was unobtrusive and most people in the audience didn't notice him, but Doctor Hyman G. watched him come closer and closer, and finally stop right in front of him.

The lackey leaned down and whispered into Doctor Hyman G.'s ear, "Kara would like to see you after the service is over, if you have time."

Doctor Hyman G. muttered, "Of course," because who was going to turn down a private meeting with Kara?

After the service was over and people wandered out to get refreshments or to head home, he stayed where he was. Silent Chuck suddenly appeared from nowhere and made a gesture for Doctor Hyman G. to follow him backstage to where Kara was waiting.

Yes, it was definitely a baby bump. He wanted to say, "Congratulations! Mazel tov!" but he didn't know them and it would have seemed impertinent. So instead he nodded at Kara and said, "Pleased to meet you," and waited.

"Doctor, I've heard some great things about you," she said.

"Oh, really? From whom?"

She just smiled and ignored the question. "You didn't share any good news tonight. Mind telling me why?"

Doctor Hyman G. saw no need to say anything other than the truth. "I have NDAs and employment restrictions that prevent me from sharing my work. Believe me, I'd like to share good news – but I'm not allowed to."

Kara nodded at that. "Well, that makes sense. I wouldn't want you to violate any agreements." Then she paused for a second, and then asked, "But would you be able to engage in a discussion – purely theoretical – about aspects of your research problem? I'm not talking about divulging your work; I'm talking about a general discussion of the problem and various potential solutions."

Doctor Hyman G. thought about it and nodded. "Yes, that should be possible. Not unlike general discussions with colleagues at technical symposia. I don't have a problem with that."

Kara said, "Great." Then she led him into a room that had a big computer screen and seated him in front of it. Then she walked out of the room, to join her husband and daughter.

"Wait," he said. "Where are you going? What about the discussion?"

She smiled back at him. "You're not having the discussion with me. I'm not even qualified to understand one percent of your research. Instead, you're going to have the discussion with some technical specialists from around the globe. It's all been arranged. Just hang on a second and they'll be joining you."

Then she walked out and the door closed, leaving Doctor Hyman G. wondering what he had just agreed to.

And then the screen lit up and he saw the people on the video teleconference, and he relaxed, because these were his friends and colleagues. People he respected. People whose work he had followed. Soon they were lost in the technical challenges of brain/computer interface.

He didn't notice the security cameras in the ceiling of the room.


	7. Transition State

_**Transition State**_

The man in the golden skullcap walked to the front of the sanctuary and faced the crowd. Every seat was filled. Cameras were focused on him, prepared to transmit his remarks to hundreds of other sanctuaries, located in all 51 states and in more than 35 countries – and to record them for posterity.

"Hello," he began. "My name is Bill Ledbetter and what I'm sharing tonight is the story of how I became your spiritual leader – leader of the Church of the Golden Rule."

The crowd sighed as one. Groans could be heard, as could the sound of sobbing. Everybody had known that Kara Cummings had been dreadfully ill, but they had hoped that prayers (and the best doctors the Church could find) might heal her. They had been wrong.

"Yes. I'm sorry to report that Kara Cummings has passed. She's made a transition to a different way of being. She's gone now and we will miss her terribly."

He paused because the sound of sobbing had grown louder. He let the sound grow and he waited until it subsided. Then he continued.

"Her husband and children are well. Naturally, they have requested privacy at this time in their lives, privacy that I hope everybody – including the media – will respect. I want to make it clear to you all that the Church will provide for them. Whatever they need will be provided, be it food or shelter or clothing, or money. Kara's family will lack for nothing. It's the least we can do for them."

The audience liked that. Bill noted vigorous nods and some "amens" from around the crowd.

"Now it is time to move forward. At first, like many others, I despaired of a future without Kara, a future devoid of her leadership and her vision and – most of all – her communication with God. I thought our Church might falter, might lose its way, without her.

"But I shouldn't have worried. Kara always said God would provide, if only we followed Her will. The trick was to listen to God and then do what She said, no questions asked. Kara always did that and look where we are now, thanks to her unquestioning devotion!

"You probably don't know me. I've played a small role in Church leadership over the years since I made my Commitment to the Golden Rule. Before my Commitment Ceremony I wasn't a great example of humanity. I was a member of a biker gang and I did some things I'm not proud of. I've been arrested. I served time in prison. But that all changed with a motorcycle accident.

"Like Kara, I had severe injuries, life-threatening injuries. But thanks to her I was able to receive the same neural lace she had, and it saved me – just like it saved her. I say 'thanks to her' because not only did she blaze the trail for such surgery, surgery that saved many people, but this Church also paid for my surgery.

"Where did the money come from? Why did our Church … well, it wasn't my Church then … why did this Church decide to sponsor such expensive surgery for a convicted felon, a miserable excuse for a human who didn't think of anything other than his own immediate gratification? I didn't know then and I still don't know today. Whenever anybody ever asked Kara where the money came from, she would always smile and shrug, and answer with a simple, 'God provides.' She didn't know and I don't know and, quite honestly, nobody knows. The money is there for our needs and we trust that God will continue to provide it.

"But back to my story. Like Kara, I received a neural lace and learned to walk again. But unlike Kara, I never heard God speaking to me. I learned to walk and I got on my bike and rode away from that hospital. But I never forgot that some church I'd never heard of had donated the money for my surgery. A bunch of strangers had saved my life and they'd never asked for anything in return. After a month or two I got curious about that crazy church and I started to research it. Then I attended a meeting, just as a pre-Questioner … just to see what was up with these people. Were they a cult or what?

"And like so many of you I was called to the Question and then the next question and the question after that. And pretty soon I realized that I was going to spend the rest of my life spreading the Question so that everybody who wanted to was going to have a chance to ask it and answer it to their own satisfaction.

"And that's when God started to speak to me."

The audience was in his hands now.

"God didn't speak to me the way She spoke to Kara. It wasn't an everyday thing for me. It was just a sometimes thing. Once in a while I would get prompting, maybe I had a decision to make, and then God's voice would speak to me and tell me which way to go.

"I know now She was preparing me for this role. And I want to make it clear to you all that I'm not the only one. There are others who sometimes hear the voice of God. We don't talk about it much, but it's happening.

"So when Kara moved on, God spoke to many of us and told us all that I was going to be the new leader of our Church. You need to understand that there was no argument, no discussion. There was no vote taken. Many of us heard God's voice and we all heard the same thing. God spoke and made me your spiritual leader.

"I don't know why God chose me. I don't know the answers to a great many questions about God and our life on this planet. But I do know that Kara always had a simple answer to complex questions, to doubts, to skeptics. She always said that if we listened to God and did what She said, then we would be fine.

"In that vein we have listened to God – I have listened to God – and we will follow Her direction."

The audience cheered; those that weren't crying.


	8. Atonement

_**Atonement**_

Kara was sick and Charlie was trying to figure out what to do about it. High fever, vomiting, chills. It was driving him nuts, even though he was trying not to show it for the sake of the children. Mary, now six years old, knew something was wrong with Mommy and it scared her. Charlie Junior, just two, was too young to know much of anything, other than Mommy wouldn't hold him.

Doctor after doctor had been to see her, and each one walked away with the same patented advice: drink more liquid, take aspirin, cold compress for the fever. One had suggested an iced water bath, which had helped for a bit. But then the fever hit again and Kara moaned in pain and it made Charlie crazy that he couldn't help the woman he had come to love.

Kara being sick had made all the news shows. _Of course._ They had talking heads spouting hot air about her illness, and whether or not it was connected to her first generation neural lace. Some of the more idiotic ones had clips of the loser Fundies, who claimed it was God's punishment for her heresy, or for her sins, or for something else. _Fuck them_ , Charlie thought. That was his _wife_ they were talking about. The mother of his children. But of course she was more than that. She led a Church (or cult, as some persisted in calling it) that had more than 5 million members across the world. There were hundreds of sanctuaries now, scattered in all 51 states and in more than 30 countries. There were even a few sanctuaries in the Middle East – and hadn't those come at a pretty price? Not a week went by that some asshole Imam issued a _fatwa_ or whatever it was called, calling for Kara's death by stoning or by whatever means they could find. _Those fuckers must be purely loving this_ , he thought.

Kara lay sicker than he'd ever seen anybody, and she might actually die. What the fuck was he going to do?

CGR people kept peeking into the room. Outside there was a prayer vigil going on. Some of the Church leaders huddled in groups, trying to figure out what they were going to do if their spiritual leader died. The Church would go on, of course, but it wouldn't be the same. Who would the next leader be, and how would they be chosen? Nobody knew but the truth was: nobody really wanted to find out. They all loved and respected Kara; they really couldn't bear the thought of losing her.

One of the leaders, some guy in a golden cap named Bill Something-or-Other, came up to Charlie and held out his hand. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I know this must be so hard on you and the kids."

Charlie nodded. There was nothing to say.

But Bill Whatever-His-Name-Was kept on talking quietly. "Chuck," he said, "We have got to plan for the worst. We'll hope for the best, but we need to plan for the worst."

Charlie nodded again. This guy was talking about Kara's death but she wasn't even dead yet. What a _putz_. He tuned the guy out and tried to think about what else he could do for his wife.

Suddenly Charlie's earwig went active. It had been a long time since he'd heard Research 3.0, and he'd kind of gotten used to being on standby status. The voice in his ear was like a wake-up call.

"Attention. New orders. If primary protectee dies, protect the children. Is that understood?"

Had Research gone crazy? Protect his children? As if that wasn't going to happen! But the voice wasn't done.

"You are engaged in a discussion right now. Please pay attention to it. It is a critical discussion and you will obtain important intelligence."

Hearing that, Charlie refocused on the Bill guy in front of him, who was in the middle of saying something about preserving Kara's legacy. _Preserving her legacy?_

"—Chuck, we can do this now. We have been working on this technology for years. She already has a neural lace, albeit an early model. We can link to the lace and then upload her consciousness into a computer network. That way she'll live on in some form, guiding us and helping us to move her Church forward—"

 _What the hell?_

Charlie tried to focus but the words just didn't make any sense. He knew Kara had a bunch of wires in her brain. Hell, everybody knew that. She had an accident and she would have been paralyzed, but a miraculous computer link allowed her to walk again. And now this Bill guy wanted to hook her up to some other computer and do … what, exactly? It didn't make any sense.

Bill sighed. "Let's try this again."

Charlie nodded.

"You know your wife received the first neural lace, right?

Charlie nodded again. _Duh._

"And you know the neural lace transmits and receives signals – electronic signals?"

Charlie nodded. _Of course._ Charlie decided right there and then that he was going to keep on nodding and not saying anything until this Bill guy got to the point and then he was going to run back to his wife and hold her hand. They didn't call him "Silent Chuck" for nothing.

Bill Whatever-His-Name-Was continued. "So we can hook up those signals to a computer outside of Kara. We can transmit and receive signals and store them in a computer. Many scientists have been working on this project for many years. Millions and millions of research dollars have been spent. We can do this _now_ , though it hasn't ever been tested on a human before. Just like Kara was the first to receive a neural lace, she can be the first to be uploaded into a computer."

Charlie nodded but something prompted him to speak. "You want to save her life … but putting her into a computer?"

The Bill dude winced. "Chuck, we can't save her life. The most we can do is save her mind. Her body is going to die; we want to save her consciousness."

" _Are you fuckin' kidding me?_ "

And that was when something in Charlie snapped and he turned right around and trotted back into his wife's room, because that Bill guy was a _fuckin' putz_ and he didn't know _shit_ , and he didn't have to deal with telling two very young children their mommy was about to die.

Kara was fading. He could tell. But he held her hand and prayed. He had never been religious like her, but on this day he prayed like he had never prayed before. He prayed for another miracle that would save her life.

She whispered something to him. He didn't want her to waste any energy so he tried to shush her, but she whispered something and he had to lean very close to her in order to hear what she was saying.

"Let them do the procedure. This is God's will. Let them do it, please. Not for me, but for them."

So of course he said _yes_ and then she was taken from him. There were doctors and nurses and scientists and technicians. They had already prepped the room. Of course they had; they knew he was going to say yes. What else was he going to say? Whenever Kara said "God's will" or "God has spoken" then that's what happened.

He and the kids saw her on the operating table. She waved a little wave before they put her under and removed the top of her skull (the better to access the lace). Then somebody closed the curtain and he held the kids and told them everything was going to be okay.

Which was a lie, he knew. But he didn't know what else to say.

She died shortly thereafter. That Bill guy told him. Bill was going to be the next leader of the Church, he had said. He said anything that Charlie wanted, he could have. He said the Church would take care of Charlie and the kids for the rest of their lives. But Charlie didn't pay any attention to that stuff because none of it mattered without Kara in his life.

He kept going, day after day, week after week. They had to find a place to live, a place for the kids to go to school. He worried about security because there were people who wanted to hurt Kara, even after she was dead. He remembered his last direction from Research 3.0: "Protect the children."

Which had seemed to be about the stupidest, most unnecessary orders he had ever received, until he realized that simple direction gave him purpose and focus, and allowed him to keep going when all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry his eyes out.

He got a new place in a new city and they had started to settle down a bit. The kids slept with him every night, and sometimes they asked when Mommy was coming home. "Soon," he said. And then they fell asleep, hoping Mommy would be there when they awakened. But she never was.

One day Charlie answered the door and Bill Ledbetter was there. Charlie was wary but invited him in. The CRG had been doing well under Bill's leadership, Charlie knew. He couldn't figure out why Bill was here, though.

Bill sat down, refused an offer of a drink, and started preaching. At least, that's what it sounded like to Charlie.

"Chuck," he said, "have you ever heard the word 'atonement'?"

"Sure," Charlie said. "People atone when they've sinned, right?"

Bill nodded. "That's close. Atonement is an action people take in order to reconcile with God for their sins. The theory is that sin takes people away from God, and atonement brings them back. It restores the relationship, so to speak."

Charlie nodded.

"But if you look at the word closely, it can be broken apart. 'Atonement' can be interpreted to mean ' _At – One – Ment_ ' – meaning to be at one with God. Atonement is an action that makes people one with God. It's a spiritual thing."

Charlie nodded again. He didn't need or want another fuckin' sermon from Kara's Church. He had had enough of those over the years.

"I wanted you to know that Kara's procedure was successful. Her mind was successfully uploaded into a computer – the first procedure of its kind. So even though her body died, her consciousness still lives on, just in a different form."

That's when Bill opened the laptop he had been carrying and showed Charlie a picture of Kara, only it wasn't a picture. It was a video. Only it wasn't a video because the video looked at Charlie and said, "Hello, my love."

He didn't understand but it was Kara and so he said _hi_ and she said some things and then he couldn't see or hear any more because he was crying and then she was crying, too. Somewhere in the back of his mind that surprised him, because he thought computers didn't cry or feel any emotions.

Charlie never told the kids about their Mommy living in a computer. In fact, he never spoke to her again. It was just too much. Too much pain, too much longing, too much obsessing over the lost past and not getting on with things.

And so Charlie and his kids got on with things. After a while he took out the earwig and put it into a dresser drawer. He got involved with the kids' PTA and there he met another mom, a widow whose husband had been lost in combat. They shared a mutual pain and a mutual desire to get on with things. They made some jokes about The Brady Bunch but they decided to try it and it seemed to work out okay.

Once a year, on Kara's birthday, he and his wife and the kids visited the local CGR sanctuary to hear the members celebrate her life. He was struck by the language they used. She hadn't died; instead, she'd 'made a transition to a different state' or a 'different way of being'. Nobody ever specified exactly what that new way of being was, but Charlie figured he knew a lot more about it than most people. Afterwards, they all headed to the veterans' cemetery to pay respects to his wife's first husband. He thought Kara would have appreciated the symmetry.

And indeed, watching him from inside The Machine, she did.


End file.
